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Port Douglas and Cairns lie about an hour apart on the coast of Far North Queensland. This part of Far North Queensland is a very popular holiday destination and most visitors staying in either Port Douglas, or Cairns, will visit the same local attractions, including The Great Barrier Reef, Kuranda, Daintree Rainforest, and our beautiful beaches.

Port Douglas and Cairns Holiday information

You’ll find a lot of content on our site about this part of the world because we’ve lived there for over a decade in total. You’ll find things to do, places to go and where to stay in the Port Douglas and Cairns area of Queensland.

We also include nearby places of interest and day trips in the region. This area was home to us as expats and as locals. Our archives and collected blog posts in the Far North of Australia (includes The Great Barrier Reef, Atherton Tablelands, Daintree, Cape Tribulation, and Cooktown)

Key posts and great information you’ll need for planning your Cairns or Port Douglas vacation, include:

See only Cairns content here

See only Port Douglas content here

If you’d like to see, and book, available activities and tours in the Cairns and Port Douglas region, you can do that here. This link opens in a new tab.

It’s very easy to visit the Daintree Rainforest from Cairns and we would suggest you take a full day to see the oldest rainforest on Earth. You can self-drive to the Daintree from Cairns, or you can book a tour. This post covers your options for seeing the Daintree Rainforest and Daintree National Park as …

Read More about How To Visit The Daintree Rainforest From Cairns

There are many options for Great Barrier Reef tours from Port Douglas Australia. Some trips are full day and a few are half day. The question I’m most asked about snorkelling on the reef, by readers, is this one. What Are The Best Reef Tours From Port Douglas For Families with Kids? In our opinion, …

Read More about Great Barrier Reef Tours From Port Douglas for Families

Port Douglas is a pretty resort town in Far North Queensland Australia, roughly an hour north of Cairns, a much larger city. Cairns has the nearest international airport to Port Douglas and most visitors will arrive here for their Port Douglas stay. From the airport, either book the shuttle to Port or pick up a …

Read More about What Are The Best Day Trips From Port Douglas

Most of the biggest and best hotels in Port Douglas do not allow dogs to stay, other than assistance dogs, but a handful of hotels, camp sites and villas, will allow dogs and pets. We run through the best Port Douglas hotels with dogs.  Some Port Douglas restaurants and pubs will also allow dogs on …

Read More about Dog Friendly Hotels and Accommodation Port Douglas

The best time to visit Cairns is broadly considered to be Australia’s cooler months, thus avoiding the wet season, tropical cyclones, and stinger season. If you’d prefer to avoid these natural phenomena, you should visit between May and October, these are the months many people consider “ideal” for visiting Cairns. However, you can visit Cairns …

Read More about Best Time To Visit Cairns

Yes, you can snorkel off the beach in Port Douglas at any time of year. In summer “stinger season” there is a netted swimming enclosure on Four Mile Beach. Snorkelling at Port Douglas beach is something I’ve done many times. But read the rest of this post to find out about potential dangers and limitations. …

Read More about Can You Snorkel Off The Beach in Port Douglas?

Port Douglas has just one beach, Four Mile Beach. Another site claims Port Douglas has multiple beaches, they’re a large, commercial site and are trying to cash in on the keyword “Port Douglas Beaches”. That keyword exists because Port Douglas has a hotel called “Beaches”. We live in Port Douglas. We live minutes from Port …

Read More about Port Douglas Beach – Four Mile Beach

Port Douglas is pretty popular as a Christmas holiday destination. With Australian long summer school holidays falling over the Christmas period, many families choose to travel around Christmas time and into the early New Year. However, Christmas and summer time bring some of the hottest, most humid weather to the tropics. Port Douglas is just …

Read More about Port Douglas at Christmas

There are many things to do in Port Douglas Australia and others near this pretty Australian resort town. Most visitors take trips to the Great Barrier Reef and Low Isles for snorkelling and scuba diving. Then there are natural attractions like the Daintree rainforest and Mossman Gorge to explore. This post lists the best activities, …

Read More about Things To Do in Port Douglas 2023

Port Douglas Queensland Australia is a beautiful, up-market resort town with easy access to the Great Barrier Reef and Daintree Rainforest. It’s a dream destination for families with kids with many safe, beautiful, outdoor things to do. We’ve called it home since our kids were toddlers, babies really. If you’ve not had a chance to …

Read More about Port Douglas With Kids (& Things To Do in Port Douglas With Kids)

Yes, absolutely, you can swim in Port Douglas Australia in the sea from the beach, unless the lifeguards close the beach due to various unusual dangers. Beach closures aren’t common. Should you swim? There are a few things you need to know about safety, crocodiles, deadly jellyfish, nets (swimming enclosures), and lifeguards. This post is …

Read More about Can You Swim in Port Douglas? (2023)

What’s it live to live, sleep, eat, scuba and snorkel on the Great Barrier Reef? We’ve taken 2 liveaboard scuba diving trips on the reef now in Queensland Australia, both departing from Cairns. But what do divers and snorkellers do out there, what’s it like? It’s the ultimate dive experience and we did it as …

Read More about A Liveaboard on the Great Barrier Reef from Cairns – What’s it Like?

Cairns has numerous great attractions within easy reach of the city and CBD but there are also loads of things to do in the surrounding area. We’re local travel bloggers, we live just outside Cairns when we’re not travelling the world, so we really enjoyed putting this Cairns travel blog section together for you. In …

Read More about Things to do in Cairns, Cairns Australia

If you’re looking for Great Barrier Reef Tours from Port Douglas, congratulations, you picked a great place from which to explore the reef. Port Douglas Australia is a stunning holiday town in Far North Queensland, home to beautiful 4 Mile Beach, close to Mossman Gorge and the Daintree Rainforest as well as the cooler Atherton …

Read More about Great Barrier Reef Tours From Port Douglas

Yes, you read that right we have a stinging tree in Queensland. It’s not just a bit “ouch” it’s more searing blinding agony that can persist for months. It’s not going to kill you with venom, but suicide could sound like a good option. Yes, it’s that bad. This post is about Gympie Gympie, the …

Read More about The Stinging Tree, Gympie Gympie, and Other Dangers of Queensland.

If you’re visiting the Cairns and Port Douglas region in summer, you absolutely must check out some of our freshwater swimming spots as well as the iconic Great Barrier Reef.  These are where the locals go to cool off and some, like Mossman Gorge, receive large numbers of tourists too. Families visit these jungle swimming …

Read More about Fresh Water Swimming Spots Around Cairns and Port Douglas

 As long-term Port Douglas residents turned professional travellers, we know the local accommodation, from luxury hotels to private rentals, from resorts, to hostels, very well indeed. Readers often ask where to stay, which is the best hotel in Port Douglas, what hostel is most affordable, and what accommodation is best for families? They need recommendations …

Read More about Best Places to Stay in Port Douglas

This post is from our first day of travel, our first day as a nomadic family, not quite digital nomads yet, our travel blog wasn’t making enough money for us to call ourselves that. These early months of travel were funded by savings. We’d saved for a year, planned for a year, and now we …

Read More about This is The Beginning. Port Douglas to Kuala Lumpur

This is my last week in Port Douglas, Queensland. Regular readers will know we are British expats and have been living in paradise here for almost six years. They will also know that it hasn’t always been paradise for me. I suffered badly with culture shock and found it hard to adjust. But goodbye Port Douglas, hello new adventure. …

Read More about Port Douglas: Leaving it Behind.

Cairns, Australia, is one of the stepping off points for snorkelling the Great Barrier Reef, but is there a beach in Cairns?  No, actually, there’s not in Cairns City itself. There is a pretty esplanade walkway and a narrow strip of sand but mostly Cairns has a busy estuary and salt water crocodiles, big ones. …

Read More about Is There a Beach in Cairns? Where to Swim or Cool Off.

Honestly, I’m confused, my head is a mess. I spent forty-two years experiencing Christmas in winter. December, in my mind, will always be cold, now, suddenly, our tropical Christmas is in summer, it’s too weird! I find myself living in Port Douglas, Australia, in an alternate hemisphere, am I supposed to adjust to the idea …

Read More about A Tropical Christmas in Port Douglas Australia

We’ve just got back from Four Mile Beach Port Douglas, the total solar eclipse was stunning! Dragging the kids out of bed at 4am didn’t go down too well, but a Daintree ice cream and some celestial spectacularness soon perked them up. Part of Photo Friday on Delicious Baby. As a new blogger I’d do linkies …

Read More about Total Solar Eclipse Port Douglas, In Photos

I’d love to get a long-term volunteer position while we are traveling, but, it’s hard to get into. it’s often a voluntourism scam and it is expensive for the volunteer. For me, I don’t think it’s ever going to happen. Somebody else, with fewer family commitments and more cash will have the privilege of taking …

Read More about Being a Beach Cleaning Volunteer with Tangaroa Blue